The importance of having water purification systems is especially critical in developing countries, remote areas and/or disaster areas where clean water is scarce.
Some drawbacks of conventional water purifiers and methods for purifying water include power requirements, the use of chemicals, non-portability of devices and limits lifetime components, such as filters. All of these drawbacks are routine maintenance concerns in developed countries, but make conventional water purifiers infeasible in such locations.
For example, filters are expensive to manufacture and require frequent replacement as the pores become clogged. Systems that require pumps, ultra violet lamps and so forth, require electricity, which might not be available in remote areas. Methods that use chemicals to purify the water may introduce potentially toxic chemicals to the water with the resulting water having a chemical taste. In addition, the chemicals must be accurately measured. Other drawbacks include that chemicals are often consumable and must be constantly resupplied.
Therefore, a need exists for a solar powered water purifier that does not require electricity, chemicals or filters and is portable. Furthermore, a need exists for a solar powered water purifier that may be manufactured from components having simpler geometries that are less complicated to fabricate.
The relevant prior art includes the following references:
Pat. No.InventorIssue/Publication Date(U.S. Patent References)2,342,062SchenkFeb. 15, 19442,848,389BjorkstenAug. 19, 19583,351,536FoxNov. 7, 19673,408,260Feldman et al.Oct. 29, 19683,655,517Henseley, Jr. et al.Apr. 11, 19723,870,605SakamotoMar. 11, 19754,075,063Tsay et al.Feb. 21, 19784,276,122SnyderJun. 30, 19814,450,966Villavicencio, Jr. et al.May 29, 19844,495,034LucasJan. 22, 19854,966,655Wilkerson, Jr.Oct. 30, 19905,053,110DeutschOct. 1, 19915,158,650WilkersonOct. 27, 19928,341,961GlynnJan. 1, 2013(Foreign Patent References)CN203498115N/AMar. 26, 2014